Recent Arcadia Grad Debuts Album on Eve of Departure for College

Ask any of the many people who know and love him: Arlo Cristofaro is going places.

At this moment, that's not simply a cliche, but a literal statement. Last Friday, Cristofaro officially debuted his first full-length album, The Great Glass Jar, with a live show at the Northfield Arts Guild. Four day later, he hit the road, bound for the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Right now, he is barreling east in his mother's car, acoustic guitar in tow.

In view of the circumstances, then, it's no surprise that The Great Glass Jar sometimes seems like a parting love letter to Northfield, where he was born and raised. Cristofaro's lyrics evoke sunbaked prairie, railroad tracks receding into the distance and scraps of warm sunlight on a chilly fall day in Bridge Square. 
 
Fittingly, many of his songs are also about remembering, forgetting and, most of all, about leaving, gathering your hopes and your fears...into a tattered suitcase and setting out, fingers crossed, the wind tugging at makeshift sails. 

Inside 'The Great Glass Jar'

Cristofaro's career as a singer-songwriter began with a broken arm. The fracture, which occurred between eighth and ninth grade, ended his training as a violinist. 

"I couldn't reach up at that angle as it was healing, but I could play guitar. So I started," Cristofaro said. "It was just a few things that happened—boom, boom, boom, boom—that led to me doing this. It was happenstance but I discovered that I really liked it."

"I noticed that it was something that I could really connect with people over, just making music and making art. That was something I was really drawn to," Cristofaro continued in his typical rapid fire style.  

Not long after, he began writing his own material, what he calls "gross, cheesy love songs."

"They were really not-so-good. The first one I really remember feeling pleased with was about this girl from the east coast," He said with a chuckle. "I looked through all my old notebooks the other day and I just cringed."

But Cristofaro is blessed with what seems to be a boundless supply of energy, and with it he became a prolific and practiced songwriter. By the time he graduated from Arcadia Charter School this year, he had a catalogue of about 75 songs to choose from, and too many contenders to easily fit on one recording. After putting out two EPs, he was able to whittle down the selection to the 10 that would become The Great Glass Jar. Cristofaro recorded the album on Broke Folk Records, under the direction of Jonathan Young (also known as Jon Fried), a friend and former classmate from Arcadia. The two cranked out the album over summer, spending hours at a time in Fried's basement studio. 

When Cristofaro heard the end result, he was taken aback, he said.

"There's an intimate feeling on the album, which comes from really being close to the microphones. It sounds like I'm right in the room with the guitar," Cristofaro said. 

Great Glass Jar Hits the Street

The album was released on Wednesday, Aug. 21. So far, the response has been "overwhelming," Cristofaro said, with an outpouring of support on social media and a bit of exposure on The Current's local show. All in all, it's been quite a send-off.

Cristofaro said he would miss all the musician he has come to know. He has become particularly close with Young.

"There's this incredible community of musicians that's been developing around town, especially my age," Cristofaro said. "One of the coolest things about music is that when I've connected with someone through music it's not super easy to forget about them. People are going to disperse for college, but the connection we have and community we've developed as young artists here in town is really going to be strong when we meet up again."